Love for the Home Team

Norwood after missing the 1991 kick.
Photo Credit: Chris O'Meara / AP, 1991

Seconds on the clock, silence in the stands. Butterflies flutter in the stomach of the kicker with all eyes on him. Not just the eyes of his teammates, his coach, or the thousands in the stands. No, this was the Super Bowl. The single most watched TV broadcast in all of America, every year. Players lined up, and the ball was snapped. The fans of Buffalo held their collective breath. He's gotta make that kick. Time had run out, the clock had expired. The ball was up. It tumbled over and over in the air, heading toward the uprights. It appeared the Bills would button up their first ever trip to the Super Bowl with a 2 point win and return home to the love of their fans.  But all the air was sucked out of the stadium as the ball went to the right of the goalpost. The game had been lost, and the New York Giants would be the NFL champions that year. With heads hanging and the mood uncertain, the Bills returned home to the streets of gathered fans. Everyone cheered, the city was proud of their runner up team, and in the background was a faint but gathering chant, "Scot-ty, Scot-ty!" And Scott Norwood, the Bills kicker tried to remain just another member of the team, behind the scenes. "Scot-ty, Scot-ty!" The crowd continued, and his teammates pushed him to the podium. His face chilled in the February wind, his throat choked up and his eyes were fighting back tears. The man who feared the return home most for giving up the winning field goal was embraced by his home crowd with cheers of team spirit and pride. He could hardly believe what he as hearing. Somehow he found it in him to utter these words to the Buffalo fans:

"I have never felt as much love as I feel right now."

On Saturday I saw a story on TV about an NFL kicker. With the final week of the 2015 regular season under way, the networks are gearing up for the playoffs and reminiscing about the ghosts of Super Bowl past. I was watching a CBS program about the post-season history of the Buffalo Bills who lost four consecutive Super Bowls, beginning with a loss to the New York Giants in 1991. In the final seconds of the game, as the clock expired, their kicker failed to put the final kick through the uprights and they lost by one point. To this day, it's the only Super Bowl decided by a single point. The program included interviews with various team players and sports analysts from the time. They reminisced about that game and the three that followed. Norwood still gets choked up when talking about it.

I was taken back by the emotion with which he still speaks of the experience. He was so deflated after he missed that kick, he wondered if he'd even play again. Still now, as he was interviewed, he is visibly filled with emotion. At times, his voice quivered as he was choked up. He was so relieved to be received by his home fans, and with such love. He played again the following season with a solid kicking record, and was cut after the Bills lost the Super Bowl again, the following year. That marked the end of Scott Norwood's football career.

Think whatever you will about football. When I watched this story, I could feel the love.

Norwood stepped to the podium in response to the cheering crowd when the Bills returned home after SuperBowl XXV.
Photo retrieved from blogs.buffalobills.com

-much love